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December can be such a busy month! I’ve been juggling two jobs while squeezing in time for getting into the holiday spirit and getting my Christmas shopping done. This year I bought my gifts with a theme in mind: hand-made and local. I bought lots of gifts at Market Collective, which is a fun event in Calgary that hosts local artists selling their creations. I also decided to make a couple things in my dehydrator, and I’d like to share them with you today.

I got these recipes from a book called Dry It – You’ll Like it! by Gen Macmaniman. I received it for Christmas one year, and it is a great guide for drying fruits, veggies, and herbs, and includes instructions for building your own dehydrator.

Dehydrating is fun, and a great way to save produce that is in season, or that may go bad before you have a chance to use it fresh. At Thanksgiving I dehydrated all the extra fresh herbs I had: sage, parsley, and thyme. I also made cran-apple fruit leather, and go absolutely cuckoo for dehydrated apples and bananas. In my opinion, having a dehydrator is perfect for anybody who likes experimenting in the kitchen, and who is looking to incorporate more raw foods in their diet. Check out this recipe for rosemary seed crackers from a previous post.

Please note that if you are considering buying a dehydrator, look at product reviews before purchasing, as the first one I had lasted only a month past the warranty date, and it looks like I’m not the only one that happened to. It’s also great to buy a dehydrator that you can control the temperature.

So, back to my little Christmas project. I made soup stock and date-nut chewies to include in my gifts to my family. Here is what I did:

Veggie Soup StockYields around 20 tablespoons of powder, or 20 cups of stock (when added to 1 cup of boiling water per 1 tablespoons of stock)

Note: You may use a wide variety of vegetables. The book suggests cabbage, carrots, celery, garlic, green beans, horseradish, mushrooms, mustard greens, onions, peppers, spinach, tomato, or watercress. I chose what I thought would go together nicely.

DirectionsI placed all the vegetables in one layer on dehydrator sheets. I have four sheets, and all these veggies took two rounds of dehydrating to complete. They were dehydrated at 135*F for about 6 hours. Time may vary depending on how thick the vegetables are, how crowded the trays are, and how juicy the vegetables were to begin with. I removed the vegetables that felt completely dry, and continued to dehydrate the ones that were still damp. You can add more vegetables once there is room on the trays. To check the vegetables, remove the heat source and let the veggies cool down first. If it feels dry, it probably is.

Next, I placed all the dehydrated vegetables in a high-speed blender and blended until the vegetables were a powder. This took a couple minutes of blending. Be sure to let the blender rest before opening it, as the powder is very fine and smokes into the air.

I divided the stock into two plastic baggies of 10 tbsp each, and added the keep-dry packets that come with sushi and other dry foods. I didn’t want the stock powder to be exposed to any moisture.

I wrote the following instructions on each baggie: “Mix 1-2 tbsp of stock with 1 cup of boiling water and let rest for about a minute. Add ground flaxseed to thicken, if desired. Use in soups, stews, and gravy.”

Voila! Home-made powdered vegetable stock! Because it’s dry, it’ll last for a long time. Store it away from sunlight and moisture.

In my high-speed blender I mixed the oil, maple syrup, apples, and vanilla extract until smooth. Then, I added the rest of the ingredients and blended until smooth. The original recipe indicates that you should use ground oats and sunflower seeds, but I did not do this because of how powerful my blender is. Plus, I thought some chunks would be OK.

Next, I spread the mixture out on two dehydrator sheets, making them pretty thick (about 1/2 inch). I dehydrated them for around 6 hours, then cut them into small squares, separated them from each other, and continued to dry them for another 8 hours.

These chewies are a great snack that resembles an energy ball. I was expecting it to be more candy-like or cookie-like, but it definitely tastes like a healthy snack. The first one I tried, in all honesty, I wasn’t sure if I should give them as gifts, but after having a few more, the taste grew on me. This recipe made a lot, so I’m glad they turned out!

Credit here goes to my good friend Katie, who showed me this recipe. She found it while browsing Pinterest, and the link for the original recipe is here. Katie kept raving about these Larabars, so I just had to try making them.

Larabars are a brand of fruit and nut bars that use natural ingredients and come in a variety of flavours. I have tried several of them, but not the peanutbutter chocolate chip ones because I am allergic to peanuts. With some modifications, I made a peanut-free version of these Larabars, inspired by Katie and the blog I mentioned above.

I put the almonds in a food processor and processed lightly, until the almonds crushed into small pieces. I took them out and put all the other ingredients except the chocolate chips into the food processor and food processed the mixture. (My tiny one-litre food processor couldn’t handle the dough, so when I make them again I will process the dough in smaller batches.) Lastly, I processed the mixture again with the chocolate chips added.

I formed the dough into a ball, placed it between two sheets of wax paper (parchment paper works too), and flattened the dough into a 1/2 inch-tall rectangle, using my finger tips (a rolling pin would work too). I refrigerated the dough for about an hour and then cut the dough into bars, around 3 inches by 1 1/2 inches. I wrapped the bars in small pieces of waxed paper and kept them in the fridge until I wanted to eat them.

These made an excellent snack for an extra boost of energy. I need all the energy I can get these days to get through my last three weeks of school!

I preheated the oven to 350*F. In a small bowl I let the chia seeds soak in the orange juice for about 5 minutes. While I was waiting I mashed the bananas, then added the orange zest, pineapple, vanilla, maple syrup, and melted coconut oil. In a large bowl I combined the dry ingredients, then added them to the wet ingredients. The mixture should be moist but not wet, and firm but not dry. Add more oats or water as needed. I pressed the mixture into an 8×8 pan that was lined with parchment paper, and baked them for 35 minutes. I usually bake granola bars for 25 minutes, but these had more moisture, so they needed more time. The edges of the cooked batter were golden and when I touched the top, it was hard but slightly spongy.

I cut the granola bars into 10 pieces using a sharp knife after the pan cooled down completely. I stored them in the fridge so they would last longer. On the counter they would probably last 5-6 days. In the fridge they can last over a week, maybe two weeks. They can be frozen too.

I bet adding almonds and swapping almond extract for vanilla would be quite scrumptious.

After a fun and relaxing holiday I am buckling down to finish the last semester of my Master’s degree in psychotherapy. Just like last semester I am trying to ensure that I am eating well during these busy weeks. It is so tempting to buy food at the cafeteria, but it is important to me to make my own healthy snacks at home and bring them to school. My favourite snacks include trail mixes with nuts and seeds (almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, raisins, dried cranberries, figs, dates, popcorn, and occasionally chocolate chips are my go-tos), fruit, home-made granola bars, home-made cookies (such as blackbean or hemp-seed based cookies), home-made muffins, feaux peanut butter with banana or apple (I love adding cinnamon), hummus with veggies or crackers, and avocado and nutritional yeast on crackers. My ultimate favourite add-ons to any savoury snack or salad is veggie pâté and home-grown sprouts.

A lot of these snacks are pretty simple, and I’m sure a lot of them are not new to any of you, but my goal in listing my favourite snacks is to inspire some new creativity among anyone who reads this. If you have any other vegan go-tos, let me know!! I’m always looking to be inspired with food.

Moving along to the recipe at hand.

Crackers are a tricky food because many of the store-bought ones contain many unpronounceable ingredients. Not only that, but a lot of crackers have a great deal of sodium in them. I’m not saying I never eat things with excess salt or that have been processed, but I try to keep these foods to a minimum. And, that is why one of my new years resolutions is to make my own crackers. Here is a recipe I tried last weekend. It is good with hummus, veggie pâté, or just on its own. It has protein and veggies in it, which is what I look for in snacks. This recipe was inspired by “The Complete Book of Raw Food 2nd edition” edited by Julie Rodwell.

I soaked the flaxmeal and sunflower seeds in three cups of water for 6 hours. I then blended everything in a food processor until smooth. The batter was spread about 1/4 inch thick onto three dehydrator trays that I lined with parchment paper. The crackers were dehydrated for 16 hours at 110*F. About six hours in I scored the trays to define how big the crackers were going to be.

The crackers turned out really well, and I am looking forward to experimenting with different kinds of raw crackers. I made some a couple years ago, so go here to check out the beginning of my dehydrating adventure

With crunch time upon us students in the fast approaching end of the term, I find myself procrastinating by writing about the delicious snack I made yesterday with some kale that was about to go bad. It amazes me how often I check my email and facebook in attempts to escape the gruelling task of writing term papers. I know that nothing interesting has happened in the past 20 minutes, but I insist on taking that micro study break, while sabotaging the time I could be spending doing something more fun. Anyway, here is the recipe I made for cheesy kale chips, inspired by a recipe in Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Kitchen. I feel as though I have been posting way too many of her recipes, so I modified this one enough to be quite different. She just has so many brilliant recipes! I made healthy fudgey brownies last week that were excellent, and a mango coconut quinoa breakfast cereal that was scrumptious. No joke, get this cookbook, right now.

Ingredients for the cheesy-ness3/4 cup sunflower seeds, soaked for 4-5 hours
lemon juice from 1/4 of a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (I didn’t put this in this time, but oh my glob it would make them even better)

Ingredients for the chips
A bunch of kale

In a food processor I pureed the cheesy ingredients. I de-stemmed the kale (very important: the stem is quite bitter) and chopped it into chip-sized bits. I covered the kale leaves in the cheesy-goodness, then baked the chips at around 200 degrees Farenheit for an hour. It is important not to burn the chips, so keep an eye on them, and you also want them to be crispy and not wilted. The time and temperature may vary, but that was generally what I did. Also, I did not add all the cheese, so depending on how cheesy you like the chips, it may take longer to bake. I will add more cheese the next time I make these.